BrandMaker GmbH, the leading European provider of Marketing Resource Management (MRM) systems, recorded outstanding growth once again in fiscal 2012. The most important driver for BrandMaker's growth was the acquisition of global clients in the automotive, pharmaceutical, and mechanical engineering industries, including Carl Zeiss AG and the Swedish Volvo Group. BrandMaker CEO Mirko Holzer: "Our goal is both to reinforce our market leadership in Europe, and to maintain a top position in a worldwide MRM market that is constantly growing and changing."
The assessment of leading US analysts underscores the continuous rise of this MRM specialist: according to relevant reports, within a few years BrandMaker has developed from a niche provider into one of the top five players worldwide. Today, BrandMaker competes with companies such as IBM, SAS, and Teradata, who have taken over corresponding providers in order to position themselves in the strategic, future-oriented MRM market. Now, more and more BrandMaker customers are switching from license based commercial models to the use of Software as a Service (SaaS), which further assures the long-term sales of this MRM specialist and promises outstanding growth prospects for the foreseeable future.
BrandMaker's Marketing Efficiency Cloud is a comprehensive solution suite that covers the entire marketing process chain. Among other things, it includes modules for brand management, marketing planning, and campaign control; digital asset management, the automation of advertising material production and advertising logistics; as well as for advertising performance evaluation and local area marketing. "Thus far, no American provider has been able to offer this breadth," explains Holzer. "Usually our competitors have isolated solutions for individual areas of marketing within their product portfolio, but lack a complete integrated solution like the one we offer."
BrandMaker also expands its staff:
The continuous growth at BrandMaker (sales growth of more than 50% for the fourth year in a row in 2012) is also reflected in the delivery resource. Due to its expansion course, BrandMaker increased its staff by more than one-third, to 200 employees in 2012. There were also two important additions to BrandMaker's management team: Vice President Frans Riemersma (40) is responsible for the Professional Services division, while Romek Jansen (42), also a Vice President, will lead the further internationalization of BrandMaker.
New branch offices opened:
In the course of expanding its international presence, BrandMaker opened additional branch offices in France and Poland in 2012 and, with its partner Marketing Logic, also opened an office in London. Other important foreign markets are supported by a growing network of capable partners.
Subsidiary in the USA:
BrandMaker Inc., which is headquartered in Atlanta, also cooperates with strategic partners in the important US market. Since 2012, BrandMaker has worked with the renowned sales and management consulting company MarketSphere in order to accelerate growth in the North American market. The first project with MarketSphere is the implementation of BrandMaker solutions at the insurance company Humana.
L-EA Private Equity backs BrandMaker:
To finance future growth, BrandMaker secured the support of L-EA Private Equity GmbH in 2012 - they manage a fund for the L-Bank, the official bank of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, that specializes in software and Internet companies. L-EA primarily supports companies that are - as BrandMaker is - majority-owned by their founders or a management team, that have mastered the first corporate phase entirely without or with only little external capital, and whose products and business models are internationally scalable. "No German software provider other than SAP has achieved world renown," says BrandMaker CEO Mirko Holzer. "We would like to change this with the help of L-EA."
About BrandMaker:BrandMaker is the leading provider of Marketing Resource Management (MRM) systems in Europe. Established in 1999, the company develops and markets sophisticated software solutions for the marketing communication of medium-sized and larger organizations. Leading analysts position BrandMaker as a "leader" in the MRM sector and count the company among the world's fastest-growing providers. BrandMaker's Marketing Efficiency Cloud is an extensive solution suite that can be operated either in a private cloud or as an internally hosted client-server installation. Among other things, it includes modules for brand management, marketing planning, and campaign control; digital asset management, the automation of advertising material production and advertising logistics; as well as for advertising performance evaluation and local area marketing.
Well-known companies that use BrandMaker solutions in their communications and marketing departments include, among others: ABN Amro, Audi, Bayer, BayWa, Commerzbank, DB Schenker, DekaBank, Ernst & Young, EnBW, GLS, SaraLee, UBS, and ZF. The company is headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany and employs more than 200 people. A global partner network, branch offices in various European countries, and BrandMaker Inc., which is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, support BrandMaker's international customers.
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